Wednesday 30 January 2008

Roads funding needs to be diverted to pay for public transport, and inner Dublin's "miserable" one-way street system must be overhauled, Minister for

Resident associations want infrastructure work carried out in the villages of Tarbert and Ballylongford, including safety measures near schools, to deal with traffic from the construction of a liquified natural gas terminal on the Shannon estuary in Co Kerry.

The seventh day of an oral hearing into the project in a Tralee hotel heard how at its peak 650 people will be working on the €500 million project during the four years of construction. It will supply 40 per cent of the country's natural gas needs.

Kerry County Council's director of forward planning Tom Sheehy said the council was asking An Bord Pleanála to impose a condition on the developer of €7.2 million to supply water to the site, for specialist fire-fighting equipment and for training before the terminal is built. The council is also asking that a bond of €5 million be lodged to ensure completion of such work. It has also seeking an annual contribution of €200,000 from the developer to the local community.

However, Kilcolgan residents yesterday said the bond figure was not enough, and more money was needed to address the construction problems.They said the village of Ballylongford was not designed to deal with the huge increase in construction traffic.

Some landowners have also said the exact route of the 25km pipeline from the plant to the national gas network should have been published in tandem with the terminal application.

The hearing continues.

The Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

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